Explosive-engine.



R. MoKEE.

EXPLOSIVE ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAILE, 190a.

Patented May 14, 1912.

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R. McKEE.

BXPLOSIVE ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 5, 190a,

' 1,026,403. Patented May 14, 1912.

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EXPLOSIVE ENGINE.

APPLIOATION mum MAB..5, 1908.

1,026,403. Patented May 14, 1912.

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R. McKEE.

EXPLOSIVE ENGINE.

APPLICATION mum MAILE, 1908.

1,026,403, 7 Patented May 14, 1912.

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EXPLOSIVE ENGINE.

PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP AR. 5, 1908. 1,026,403. Patented May 14, 1912.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT MoKEE, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

EXPLOSIVE-ENGINE.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ROBERT MoKnE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city and county of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, have invented an Improvement in Explosive-Engines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has reference to explosive engines, and consists of certain improvements which are fully set forth in the following specification and shown in the accompanying drawings, which form a part thereof.

The object of my invention is to provide a construction of explosive or gasolene engine which may be reversed or have capacity for rotating in both directions at the will of the operator.

My improved engine may be employed as the motive power for boats, automobiles or other uses and obviates the necessity of employing reversing gear therefor.

My invention consists in an explosive engine of any ordinary construction, combined with gearing to insure the rotation of the valve operating cam shaft always in the same direction irrespective of the direction of rotation of the crank shaft, automatic means to change the positions of the cams and cam shaft relatively to the cranks of the crank shaft at the moment of reversing the direction of rotation of said crank shaft, and devices under the control of the crank shaft to time the operation of the automatic means, whereby the adjustment of the cam shaft will take place at the proper instant.

My invention also consists in the above construction when further combined with means to advance the time of explosion to cause the initial reversal of rotation of the crank shaft, and automatic devices to rset the ignition devices to retard the time of explosion to a normal running condition of the engine, so that when the reversed adjustment ofthe cam shaft takes place the explosion also takes place at the proper normal time with respect to the positions of the cranks.

My invention also eompreheuds details of construction which, together with the features above specified, will be better understood by reference to the drawings, in which Figure l is a side elevation of my improved engine; Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the same; Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 5, 1908.

Patented May 14, 1912.

Serial No. 419,263.

Fig. 7 is a detail view of the trippin device for controlling the hand operate devices; Fig. 8 is an elevation of a portion of the tripping device; Fig. 9 is a perspective view of another-portion of the tripping device; Fig. 10 is a detail showing the edge view of the gearing for driving the cam shaft; Fig. 11 is a plan view of the lever for controlling the time of explosion; Fig. 12 is a cross section through the lower part of the case adjacent to the fly-wheel; Fig. 13 is a longitudinal section of one of the bearings; and Fig. 14 is a cross section of the same on line y-y.

The engine may be of single or multicylinder construction as desired, but in the particular illustration of my invention, I have shown, for convenience, a 'two cylinder four cycle construction.

2 are the cylinders, and these are supported upon a housing or case 3 of any suitable construction which has also a side casing 15 in which the cam shaft and operating mechanism are located. The pistons 4 are connected by connecting rods 5 with the cranks 6 of the crank shaft 7. The gasolene vapor mixture is supplied to the gasolene or inlet valves 8 by a pipe 45 and may be exploded by a spark from the ignition plugs 42 under the control of the spark timer 44, the products of combustion after the explosion escaping by exhaust valves 9 into exhaust pipe 46. The gasolene valves 8 may be operated by stems 10 and the exhaust valves 9 by stems 11. These stems are sur- .rounded by coil springs 12'which are designed to keep the valves normally tight except when said valves are raised under the action of the cams on the cam shaft. The general construction of these parts above described may correspond to any ordinary gasolene engine.

14 is the cam shaft and is journaled in the case 15 and is provided with cams 22 to operate the gasolene valves 8 and with cams 23 for operating the exhaust valves 9. These cams 22 and 23 operate pivoted levers 26, the free ends of which act upon vertical pins 27 immediately below the respective stems 10 and 11. Normally there is a slight space between the tops of the pins 27 and the bottoms of the stems and 11, so as to permit the springs 12 to seat the valves tightly upon their seats when not acted upon by the cams.

25 which are adapted to engage the teeth of the ratchet wheel 16 according to which of the gears 17 or 18 is being rotated in a direction corresponding to the direction of rotation required by the shaft 14. The gear 18 is geared to a pinion 19 on the crank shaft 7 by an intermediate gear 20. The pinion 19 has exactly half the number of teeth that are contained in the gears 17 and 18. The gear 20 is a wider gear than the gear 18, and a similar gear 21, also wider than the gear 17, is arranged to mesh with the gear 18 and also with the gear 20. This arrangement of gearing will be seen from an examination of Figs. 3, 5 and 10. It will now be understood that, if the crank shaft 7 rotates in a direction opposite to the movement of the hand of a watch, the cam shaft 14 will rotate in a similar direction provided the gear 17 is in operative connection with said shaft 14. It is also evident that if the crank 7 rotates in the direction of the hands of a watch, then the cam shaft 14 will continue to rotate as before provided the gear 18 is in operative con nection with the shaft 14.

The ratchet wheel 16 may have one or more teeth for each of the pawls 24 and 25 of the spur gear 17 and 18 and these teeth for the respective pawls may be arranged in alinement, as indicated in the drawings. If desired, the pawls may be differently positioned on the gears and in that case the teeth of the ratchet wheel 16 may be positioned out of alinement. All that is necessary is to provide the proper relation between the positions of the pawls and ratchet teeth that the desired lead will be given to the cam shaft at the time of reversing, and hence the extent of this lead may be made to suit the wish of the designer.

To enable the proper operative connection between the gears 17 and 18 and the shaft 14, the following mechanism is providedz-Upon the outer end of the shaft 14 is secured a ratchet wheel 31 which is provided with teeth extending in part or fully about its circumference, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. Pivoted to the shaft 14 is a hand lever 28 which is thrown to a position indicated in Fig. 2 by the action of the spring 30. An adjustable stop 29 is provided on the hand lever to limit its extent of move ment under the action of the spring. The hand lever is also provided with a pawl 32 adapted to operate upon the ratchet wheel 31 on the shaft 14. The lever 28 may be thrown backward against the action of the spring 30 into the position indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2, and it may there be retained by a spring catch 33, which is pressed outward by a spring 34. This catch 33 may be depressed to release the lever by an oscillating cam 36 on a rocking lever 35 when said lever is rocked by the action of a cam flange 47 upon the crank shaft 7 of the engine. The lever 35 may be retained in either of the two positions by means of a spring detent 37 adapted to enter recesses 38 in the lever 35. When the lever 35 is in either of its two extreme positions, it is held by the cam 37 so that its point just touches the traveling cams 47 and lets them pass freely under it acting more or less like a pawl with a ratchet wheel moving under it. In either of the positions in which the i said lever is retained by the detent 37, the spring catch 33 will be in operative position to retain the lever 28, and any movement which throws the lever 35 from one extreme position to another causes its cam portion spark or ignition, for if the spark be caused as the piston rises in the cylinder and before it reaches the proper point of compression for normal running, the travel of the piston will be checked and the crank rotated in the opposite direction sufficiently f to cause the cam collar 47 on the crank shaft 7 to operate the same lever 35 to cause the reversing lever 28 to automatically come into action in a manner to be described.

To change the time of ignition or spark, a spark timer 44 may be employed and which is driven by gearing 43 from the cam shaft 14 in the ordinary way, and this spark timer may be adjusted by a spark tiniing lever 49, which is pivoted at 50 and adjusted to a premature explosion position by an adjusting screw 51. To advance the time of the spark relative to the position of the piston to make a premature explosion for reversing, the lever 49 is oscillated by throwing the end to the left, Fig. 2, toward the engine; and to retard the time of spark to the normal running condition, the

reverse operation of the lever 49 is made so that its left hand end is moved toward the spark timer 44 or away from the observer, and this is accomplished by the action of the cam projection 52 on the lever 28 when moving automatically from the dotted position to the full line position in Fig. 2.

The operation of the engine will now be understood: Assuming that the engine is normally operating in the forward condition, that is to say in the direction of the hands of a watch when looking at Fig. 2, and that the timing lever 49 has its left hand end pushed away from the engine, the engine will continue to operate in this direction, if not otherwise molested. If now, it is desired to reverse the direction of rotation of the crank shaft 7, the following operation is resorted to. The lever28 is rocked to the position indicated in dotted lines, and in which position it will be held by the spring catch 33. In the act of rotating this lever 28 to this position, the cam portion 52 will be moved past the extension on the timing lever 49. The electric circuit is then broken in the ordinary way, and as the engine slows down, the lever 19 is shifted by having its left hand end moved in until the stop screw 51 brings it to rest and this action will advance the time of ignition or explosion. The object of this is to explode the mixture in the cylinder before the piston has reached a sufficiently high point to permit the continued rotation in the direction inwhich the crank shaft was rotatin and instead, cause the premature downward movement of the piston and the rotation of the crank shaft 7 in the opposite direction. At the time of this reversal of the. direction of rotation of the crank shaft 7, the cam lever will be in the position shown in Fig. 2 and will be operated upon by the cam projections of the cam ring 47, so that this cam lever 35 is oscillated. The oscillation of the cam lever 35 causes its cam portion 86 to depress the spring catch 33 and release the lever 28. The spring 30 instantly causes the lever 28 to swing around until the stop 29 arrests its movement, and this action will take place rapidly; and during the said operation, the pawl 32 will engage the teeth in the ratchet wheel 31 and cause the rotation of the cam shaft 14, the said rotation placing it, together with the ratchet wheel 16, immediately in such a position that the pawl 25 of the gear 18 will engage the ratchet wheel to cause the continued rotation of the said shaft 14 to operate the engine in the new desired-direction. Simultaneously with this oscillation of the hand lever 28, the timing lever 4L9 is oscillated by the cam part 52 on the lever 28 striking the cam extension 53 of the timing lever 19, so that the timing device instantly returns to its proper timing position for normal running; and consequently, after the engine has been reversed, the time of ignition is normally proper and the engine continues to run in its reversed direction. It willbe observed that while the gears 17 and 18 rotate in opposite directions, there are only two points of possible connections between the said gears (through their pawls 24 and 25) with the ratchet wheel 16 and the shaft let to which it is secured, and it is evident that if the engine is to be reversed, the shaft 14: is to be advanced a part of a revolution beyond its former position of rotation with each reversal of the engine. This advancing of the shaft 141 upon its driving gears 17 or 18, as the case may be, is secured through the action of the lever 28 and its pawl 32 operating upon the ratchet wheel 31.

\Vhile the lever 28 is designed to operate quickly upon the shaft 14, it is not desired that the said shaft shall be permitted in any wise to spin, and to make the movement a positive one yet withal under braking action, a governing device may be provided in the mechanism shown in Figs. 5 and 6. This governing device consists of a cam 39 having recesses and secured to the shaft 14-, a pivoted lever 40 having a roller pressing upon the surface of the am, and a spring :1 to put pressure upon the roller and lover. In this manner, the shaft 1 1 may be advanced a portion of a revolution and will be retarded from spinning by the friction of the spring pressed roller, but in making this movement, the ratchet wheel 16 will have been advanced with rapidity so that one of its teeth comes properly in front of the particular pawl 24 or 25 which is advancing in the proper direction according to the direction of movement of the crank shaft, and one of said pawls will engage the said ratchet wheel 16 and continue its rotation with a speed commensurate with that of the crank shaft, namely at a speed half of that of said crank shaft.

It will thus be seen that the only thing which is necessary for reversing the engine when running in either direction, as the case may be, is to move the lever 28 over to the dotted position; all other operations take place automatically. It is seen, however, that to make this operation of the hand lever 28 reverse the engine, it is important to advance the time of ignition, otherwise there will not be a reversal of the crank shaft and its cam ring 17. It is also to be observed that the cam ring 47 has cam portions 12 placed diametrically opposite and that these cam portions are so positioned that they will operate upon the pivoted cam 10- ver 35 after the premature explosion takes place to reverse the direction of rotation of the crank shaft so that at that moment the lever 28 may advance the cam shaft 1-1 to bring it into the proper position for cooperation with the particular gear 17 or 18 which is to continue its rotation. As the most important use of this reversible feature of a gasolene engine is in connection with marine work, it is evident that the reversal is not intended to normally take place with the engine ruiming at full speed. In emergencies,

such reversal might be resorted to, but ordinarily the engine would be provided with an ordinary switch in the electric ignition circuit which may be broken to slow down the engine before reversing. WVhen the engine is slowing down, the lever 28 would be thrown to the dotted position shown in Fig. 2, and then the time lever 49 moved to the advanced position for premature explosion, after which the switch would be again closed at the moment the reversal was to take place.

As it is important to provide proper lubrication of the engine, I provide the following features of construction: The crank case ortion 3 is made oil tight and is supplied with oil in the bot-tom to the proper height to be struck and splashed by the cranks during their rotation. Each of the main bear ings 60 is provided with an oil well 6.1 which is supplied from a channel 62 inside the case. Toward the outer end of the bearing I provide an annular groove 65 from the bottom of which extends an oblique channel 64 to the reservoir or oil well 61. Along the inner face at the top of the bearing I provide a longitudinal oil groove 63 and to this oil is supplied by a ring 66 surrounding the shaft and extending down into the well. In this way the oil is continually circulated from the oil well over the bearing and back again during the running of the engine. The splashing of the oil by the cranks causes oil to pass into the oil well by the channels 62. All the other bearings and gearing are well lubricated by the oil splashed by the cranks.

The bottom of the crank case is divided into two or more trough shaped parts ac cording to whether the engine has two or more cylinders. In this illustration, there is one division 67 having holes 68 to permit oil to flow from one side of the division to the other, to keep the oil at the proper height at the higher end of the engine when it is set on an incline as in marine propulsion. Along the inside of the crank case and at an angle to the line of the crank shaft, I provide one or more channels 69 and the incline of these will be sufiicient to cause the oil splashed into them by the cranks to flow into the trough shaped part which is at highest elevation and from which the excess of oil flows back through the apertures 68. In this way, the engine may be arranged on an incline and yet the oil so distributed that each crank will be capable of splashing oil upon itself and adjacent parts. The splashed oil lubricates the cylinders, pistons, crank and wrist pins and all internal apparatus, and thereby keeps the engine in an excellently lubricated condition.

While the cam 39 hereinbefore referred to acts as a brake to the free and unrestricted rotation of the cam shaft 14, it also operates through the spring 41 and pivoted arm 40 to prevent backlash of the shaft due to the operation of the lifts or pins 27 and levers 26. This cam 39 is so shaped that it operates against the action of the lifts or pins, whereby some pressure is caused to be had against the said lifts and backlash of the shaftand gears due to lost motion is obviated.

The cooling wateris circulated by the circulating pump 49 which may be rotated by the cam shaft 14 or in any other manner.

While my invention is especially useful, in a multiple cylinder engine, it may be used in a single cylinder engine also. I have shown a four cycle explosive engine embodying my improvements in the form in which I have found them excellently adapted for commercial use, but I do not confine or restrict myself to the details thereof, as they may be modified without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In an explosive engine having a crank shaft, a valved inlet for the explosive gases, a valved exhaust for escape of the gases, a cam to operate the exhaust valve, means for operating the cam from the crank shaft, automatic means for advancing the lead of the cam relatively to the crank shaft at the moment of reversing, and means for continuously maintaining the rotation of the cam in the same direction before and while reversing and after reversing the direction of rotation of the crank shaft.

2. In an explosive engine having a crank shaft, a valved inlet for the explosive gases, a valved exhaust for escape of the gases, a rotating cam to operate the exhaust valve, means for operating the cam from the crank shaft consisting of a rotating shaft, auto matic means for advancing the lead of the cam relatively to the crank shaft at the moment of reversing, and automatic means for continuously maintaining the rotation of the cam in the same direction before and while reversing and after reversing the dir-eetion of rotation of the crank shaft. S. In an explosive engine having a crank shaft, a valved inlet for the explosive gases, a valved exhaust for escape of the gases, a rotating cam to operate the exhaust valve, means for operating the cam from the crank shaft consisting of a rotating shaft and au-,

rotating cam to operate the exhaust valve,

- 7 means for operating the cam from the crank shaft consisting ofa rotating shaft, means for maintaining the same direction of retation of the cam while reversing the direction of rotation of the crank shaft, means Y for advancing the circumferential position of the cam relatively to the cranks at the moment of reversing the crank shaft, and means for automatically retarding the time of ignition at the time of advancing the i circumferential position of the cam.

: means for operating the cam from the crank shaft consisting of a rotating shaft and means for continuously maintaining the same direction of rotation of the cam before and while reversing and after reversing the i direction of rotation of the crank shaft, and

means for advancing the circumferential position of the cam relatively to the cranks at the exact moment of reversing the direction of rotation of the crank shaft and under the control of the crank shaft.

6. In a self contained reversible explosive engine, valves for controlling the supply of explosive gases to the engine and valves for controlling the escape of spent gases from the engine, means for operating the said valves in the normal operation of the engine, means for changing the time of explosion within the engine of the explosive gases to cause an initial reversal of the rotation of the crank shaft, and automatic means to advance the time of action of the means for operating the valves to cause the valves to operate normally for the reversed rotation of the crank shaft.

7. In an explosive engine, valves for controlling the supply of explosive gases to the engine and valves for controlling the supply of spent gases from the cylinder, means for operating the said valves in the normal operation of the engine, means for changing the time of explosion of the explosive gases to cause an initial reversal of the rotation of the crank shaft, means to change the time of action of the means for operating the valves to cause the valves to operate normally for the reversed rotation of the crank shaft, and devices to operate the means for changing the time of explosion to retard the time of explosion to cause the engine to run normally on the reversed rotation of the crank shaft.

8. A reversible explosive engine provided with means to produce a premature explosion within the engine to start a reversal of its crank shaft and also with automatic means to simultaneously therewith reverse the direction of rotation of its crank shaft relatively to the rotation of its valve operating cam shaft and also advance the lead of the valve cams,

t). In an explosive engine, means to ad Vance or retard the time of explosion, combined with means automatically operated by the engine for changing the operative angular position of the cams relatively to the crank shaft for operating the valves relatively to the cranks of the crank shaft.

10. In an explosive engine, means to advance or retard the time of explosion, combined with automatic means for changing the operative position of the cams for operating the valves relatively to the cranks of the crank shaft, and connecting means whereby the time of explosion is retarded simultaneously or thereabout with the change in the operative position of the cams.

11. In an explosive engine, a cam shaft for operating the valves, combined with two parts axially journaled with respect to the cam shaft and continually rotating in opposite directions, means for continuously rotating said parts from the crank shaft of the engine during its operation, hand controlled means for causing the crank shaft to be reversed, and automatic means for coupling either of the rotating parts with the cam shaft to maintain it in rotation in the same direction for both the forward and reversed rotations of the crank shaft.

12. In an explosive engine, a cam shaft for operating the valves, combined with two parts axially journaled with respect to the cam shaft and rotating in opposite directions, means for rotating said parts from the crank shaft of the engine, hand controlled means for causing the crank shaft to be reversed, and means for coupling either of the rotating parts with the cam shaft to maintain it in rotation in the same direc tion for both the forward and reversed rotations of the crank shaft and simultaneously advancing the angular position of the cam shaft to time the operation of the valves to the reversed operation of the engine.

13. In an explosive'engine, a cam shaftfor operating the valves, combined with two parts axially journaled with respect to the cam shaft and rotating in opposite directions, means for rotating said parts from the crank shaft of the engine, a ratchet wheel secured to the cam shaft, pawls on the rotating parts to engage the ratchet wheel, means to automatically rotate the cam shaft independent of the pawls at the moment of rotation of the engine, and devices to control the time of action of said means controlled by the crank shaft of the engine.

14. In an explosive engine, a cam shaft for operating the valves, combined with two parts axially journaled with respect to the cam shaft and rotating in opposite directions, means for rotating said parts from the crank shaft of the engine, a ratchet wheel secured to the cam shaft, pawls on the rotating parts to engage the ratchet wheel, means to automatically rotate the cam shaft independent of the pawls at the moment of rotation of theengine consisting of a spring actuated lever having a loose driving engagement with the cam shaft, and devices to control the time of action of said means controlled by the crank shaft of the engine consisting of a locking device to hold the lever against the action of its spring and a cam to release the locking device when the crank shaft is reversed.

115. In an explosive engine having a valve operating cam shaft, a timing lever for retarding or advancing the time of explosion, a hand lever and clutch device for rotating the valve operating cam shaft a part of a revolution independently of the normal operating means, and a cam device on the lever for automatically shifting the timing lever to retard the time of explosion simultaneously with advancing the rotation of the cam shaft.

16. In an explosive engine having a valve operating cam shaft, a timing lever for retarding or advancing the time of explosion, a hand lever and clutch device for rotating the valve operating cam shaft a part of a revolution independently of the normal operating means, a cam device on the lever for automatically shifting the timing lever to retard the time of explosion simultaneously with advancing the rotation of the cam shaft, and means controlled by the crank shaft of the engine to regulate the time of operation of the hand lever. 7

17. In an explosive engine, the combination of a cam shaft to operate the valves, means for rotating the shaft always in the same direction when reversing the rotation of the crank shaft, means to change the an:

gular advance of the cam shaft to cause the valves to operate properly with the direction of rotation of the crank shaft, a locking device for holding the last mentioned means out of action, and tripping devices controlled by the crank shaft for releasing the locking device automatically when the crankshaft is reversed.

In testimony of which invention, I have hereunto set my hand. ROBERT MoKEE. Witnesses:

R. M. HUNTER, R. M. KELLY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0. 

